2016 Lecture! March 24th @ 7PM.

Mark McCurties, CS

Elsah, Illinois — Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve had a deep love for the Bible. When I read about men and women in the Bible overcoming hatred, famine, war, physical disease, and other hardships, their triumphs inspired me. It didn’t matter what the odds were, or what conditions they faced, individuals in the Bible seemed to flourish in adversity based on one common theme, their deep love for God. 
 
Growing up in a Christian Science household, there was another book I loved to read daily: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures written by Mary Baker Eddy. The very purpose of her book is to help unlock and reveal the deeper divine meaning and inspiration of the Bible. Together these two books point to the practical healing and saving power of God and its present availability for all mankind. I knew that someday I wanted to share that healing message with the world.
 
As I grew into adulthood, experiences in the field of education as a summer camp director, outdoor educator, athletics coach, and resident counselor, all helped to develop my understanding and practice of Christian Science. While working with young people, I had multiple opportunities to witness God’s healing power. These examples proved to me that the healing power of the Christ is just as alive and relevant today as for the men and women of the Bible. In 2010, with a desire to focus solely on healing through prayer, I went into the full-time public practice of Christian Science.

Diagnosed lung cancer healed

 

By Troy Noonan: From the February 18, 2013 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

 I worked as a mechanic operator for 37 years. During the last ten years of my employment, the company I worked for required that all workers in my department submit to an annual physical examination, including X-rays, so I complied.

The day after taking one of these exams at a hospital, my shop foreman received a call from the hospital’s head occupational health nurse, telling him to have me report to another medical facility to retake the X-rays, which I did.

After this second set of X-rays, the nurse invited me up to her office and told me the X-rays showed I had lung cancer, and she thought it was probably caused by my work conditions. This kind lady informed me that I needn’t worry, because as an employee of the company I worked for, I was entitled to go to a hospital in Dallas, Texas, to have treatment that was said to be able to make me as good as new.

As I sat there and let this information sink in, I thought of the many healings through Christian Science treatment I’d had on and off the job and how God had protected me throughout my life. I told the nurse that I wanted to try a method of healing that was different from what she had suggested, and as if on cue, she looked down at my folder and said, “Oh, I see you are a Christian Scientist.” 

She then shared with me the religious denomination that she belonged to. Not much more was said other than that she wanted me to come back in the near future for a checkup.

Well, this experience turned me wholeheartedly to the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, which I read from cover to cover. After reading diligently for over a month, I received a call from my mother, who always seemed to know when I needed help. We chitchatted for a while about this and that, and then she asked me point-blank what I was working on metaphysically. I then told her all about what had happened, and she suggested I call a Christian Science practitioner for additional prayerful help, so I did.

One of the things the practitioner discerned through prayer was that I needed to overcome the belief that anyone could resent me or that I could resent anyone else. I knew he was right, because I had been feeling that my co-workers were unhappy with me because of my decision to rely on Christian Science, and this was bothering me. 

At the time I worked with about 20 men who, on learning of my diagnosis, were constantly bombarding me with discouraging remarks about my health, such as, “You aren’t doing anything if you aren’t taking medication.” I knew they meant well, and I reminded them of past healings some of them had witnessed me experience on the job, trying to assure them that Christian Science treatment is effective. 

I conscientiously endeavored to see through the false belief of resentment by holding to the fact that everyone is a loving child of God, and as a result, I got a sense that I was safe in God’s hands. Through this realization of my safety, I developed a greater love for everything around me, and in turn, people began to be more loving toward me. 

During this period I also worked to understand that “there is no spot where God is not,” and I continued calling the practitioner for prayerful support from time to time. I was beginning to see more clearly that a spiritual idea of God, as each of us is, is not made up of matter—God’s ideas are wholly spiritual. I knew that disease was not a real part of me. I prayed diligently about the condition for three or four months after I had last had X-rays taken, and then I decided that I had done enough work on it and needed to just turn it all over to God.

A couple of months later, a call came in from the first hospital saying it was time for me to take my follow-up exam. The day after taking this exam, I picked up my new X-rays so I could take them to a specialist at another facility. Once in his exam room, he showed me my X-rays and then asked me what I was there for. I said jokingly, “You’re the expert; what do you see?” He went on to tell me I had the lungs of an 18-year-old! He then asked me what I had been doing, and I told him that I had been working with a Christian Science practitioner. He said, “Keep doing what you are doing.” I will always be grateful for this proof of God’s healing care.

Troy Noonan
Savannah, Georgia, US

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